


Cascade

by SoldiersWar



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Winter Soldier (Comics)
Genre: Black Widow - Freeform, Bucky Barnes - Freeform, F/M, Red Room, Winter Soldier - Freeform, buckynat - Freeform, natasha romanov - Freeform, winterwidow - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:48:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23341219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoldiersWar/pseuds/SoldiersWar
Summary: Natalia Romanova is one of the best in the Red Room. Her along with her best friend Yelena Belova.One day, the director of the Red Room sends her on a very important assignment with a very important master assassin. One that most people, even in the most underground organizations don't even know about.After she meets him, her life, and how she fits into her current world will change forever.
Relationships: Black Widow/Winter Soldier, James "Bucky" Barnes/Dmitri (Winter Soldier), James "Bucky" Barnes/Natasha Romanov
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Keep in mind that none of the characters in this fic are cannon except for Natasha, Yelena, and Bucky. I hope you like this WinterWidow series. I've been wanting to do one for a while.

“Again.”  
“Are you fucking kidding me?” thought Natasha, exchanging a look of fury with her despite the fact that she was one of the highest regarded guest evaluators in all of Russia.  
Natasha looked back at the guy of whom she had just annihilated in a sparring match once again. If Anya should be picking on anybody, it should have been that loser who was gathering his bearings again.  
And he was supposed to be one of the best guys at her level.  
Pathetic.  
She stared into his eyes as though she were ready to kill him, and he stared back at her in the same manner. The only difference was that he had more bruises on his face.  
The fact that he had the nerve to look at her that way made her blood boil, even though she knew that he had nothing on her. Not anymore.  
“Okay, we're done now,” Anya announced abruptly after listening to something in her earpiece. It was strange the sudden change of heart, (on either her end or somebody else’s), but Natasha didn’t question it.  
She sighed, and swiftly walked her way out of the room not giving either of them a second glance.  
When she swung the door open, she found Yelena leaning against the wall across from her.  
“They kept you in for a little while, huh sister?”  
A little while was an understatement. There were five evaluators in the beginning, and multiple girls and boys training in that room. Eventually, all of the other evaluators were gone except for Anya, and all the rest of the agents were able to leave within the first couple of hours. All except for Natasha and that other boy who’s name she didn’t bother to learn.  
“I don’t know why, or who she thinks she is to keep me for so long,” Natasha growled.  
“They had us in for another two hours than the rest for no reason. She knows I’m good. Everybody here knows that I’m good. I should have been the first to be able to leave.”  
Yelena did her best to try to comfort Natasha, despite the fact that Natasha knew that she was reveling in the fact that indeed she was the first to leave.  
“Well maybe she wanted to see how you beat him over and over again compared to the others,” Yelena replied.  
“Maybe your fighting skills changed, and they simply wanted to observe.  
Natasha rolled her eyes.  
That was never how things worked in the Red Room. They always let the stronger ones leave first, and pushed the weaker ones for as long as they could for hours upon hours until their bodies could handle the stress no longer.  
She remembered when she was younger, and weaker when she and three other girls were stuck in there for 9 hours one time. Natasha made sure to make her way to the top just to avoid the humiliation of having to stay that long in those evaluation sessions again. She trained and trained against some of the toughest girls. And as time went on, evaluation sessions grew shorter and shorter as she made her way to the top. At this point, her best friend Yelena was her only match.  
That face alone made Natasha was confused as to why they didn’t pair the two together on the first round, and let them go as soon as possible. What frustrated her more as that they let Yelena out by the third round instead of her.  
“Come on, sister,” said Yelena throwing her arm around Natasha to take her over to the mess hall.  
…  
“So,” Yelena started.  
“Did you hear the news?”  
Natasha narrowed her eyes.  
“Will I have to pull it out of you? Or can I finish my pasta as you tell me?”  
Yelena raised an eyebrow and shrugged.  
“Apparently, we have a special guest coming in.”  
Natasha stared blankly at her.  
“Wasn’t Anya supposed to be our special guest of the week?” Natasha replied.  
Yelena shook her head. Natasha also realized that she had never seen Yelena look as excited as she did right then. She looked like a teenage school girl that had just heard a rumor that her crush was going to ask her on a date any minute.  
“Apparently, he’s a super-secret master assassin. He might be training some of us. And even better, they could be preparing to send a couple of us on an assignment or two with him.”  
Natasha froze and stared at Yelena’s excited expression. She still wasn’t sure whether she should actually care or not.  
“Do you know who it is?” Natasha inquired, deciding that she was not convinced.  
“No,” she scowled.  
“Then how do you know if it’s true?”  
She looked side to side to see if anyone could be listening.  
“Vanya told me that last night after sneaking back in during the late hours, he came across crew bringing someone in. Full security.”  
“Yelena,” Natasha sighed.  
She nodded.  
“If he’s a master assassin, why would he need security?”  
She shrugged.  
“Well, that’s all that Vanya told me. Maybe he’s just that important.”  
Natasha was even less convinced. And she could also tell that Yelena held on to that leaked information because she was hoping to be that special agent.  
Even if it were true, Natasha couldn’t deny that Yelena would have deserved it. She worked hard, completed her missions without the need for emergency backup most of the time, and all of their instructors and commanding officers did love and fall for her charm. That fact alone was very important to her. She would often lecture Natasha to make herself more pleasant.  
“Just because you’re one of the best around here, doesn’t mean you can’t act a little nicer,” she would often say.  
She wasn’t wrong. But as of yet, Natasha had no reason to believe that she would face any sort of consequence for her attitude as long as she maintained, and continued to excel in her level of skill.  
“I can tell that you don’t believe me,” she huffed, narrowing her eyes.  
Natasha gave in.  
“Okay, okay, maybe you’re right,” Natasha groaned sarcastically, but lightheartedly.  
“Maybe Vanya wasn’t totally full of shit, and you’re going to do whatever project you’ll be asked to do with this evangelical master assassin. Are you happy?”  
Both Natasha and Yelena giggled.  
“Well, well, well,” said a voice approaching from behind Natasha.  
She turned and found one of her least favorite assistant to the director.  
“Ari,” she greeted dryly.  
“What a pleasure.”  
He maintained a neutral facial expression so as to not outwardly acknowledge his annoyance.  
“Natalia, the head would like to see you in twenty minutes.”  
She frowned. Both out of curiosity, and the continuation of her mild annoyance.  
Nobody called her Natalia anymore unless it was for something serious. She hadn’t gone by that name since last year after going on a three-month-long undercover assignment in London where she was instructed to go by the name ‘Natasha’. She insisted on sticking with the name ever since.  
She turned to Yelena who seemed equally intrigued. And maybe even a little bit…Disappointed?  
“Well how about right now?” she suggested.  
“Well, you could finish—”  
“I said,” Natasha interrupted rudely.  
“Let’s go now,”  
Natasha could feel his anger begin to boil with her attitude. It wasn’t necessarily her suggestion at all that frustrated him. It was more her tone that taunted him; and she knew how to get to him every time they spoke. She did it because she knew that he had no real merit to mess with her. The last time he did, his higher ups had a very stern talking to for berating one of their best agents the way he did over something so small.  
They only felt that way because they knew that she would act out if he kept that up. Therefore, Natasha knew that she had the upper hand over him attitude-wise. So she took whatever opportunity she could to push him right to the edge, but not quite over it. It was her favorite part of their interactions.  
“Okay, let’s go.”  
…  
“Ah, Natalia, there you are,” said Nikolai, the director of the Red Room.  
She sat down on the chair placed on the other side of his desk.  
“Nikolai,” she replied, stern-faced.  
“To what do I owe this pleasant interaction?”  
He straightened his back, and matched her expression, reminding her of her place.  
She took note, and held back.  
“You fought hard today,” he stated.  
She held back a scoff. Actually, she held back more than that. She wanted to know what the hell happened during evaluations.  
“Was that what Anya told you?”  
“I was observing from up top,” he replied.  
“I haven’t actually spoken with Anya yet.”  
She often forgot that above the training room there were one-sided glass windows to observe all agents. It was easy to forget because nobody could see from inside the room.  
“So what happened?” she questioned.  
“Was I not to your liking today or what?”  
“Oh, the opposite,” he answered.  
Natasha tilted her head.  
“We have a special assignment. And we need nothing but the best.”  
Natasha started to feel a mischievous smile curl at the corner of her lips.  
“The best?”  
“Well don’t act like you’re surprised, Natalia. You would tear everybody apart around here just to prove yourself if we thought differently. But we just had to be sure; which was why we kept you for so long.”  
She shrugged. She really would do anything to stay one of the best.  
“Even more so than me, he needed to be sure.”  
“He?” she thought. Who was this figurative he?  
“Natalia, over the next few days, you are going to learn a lot. Very important things that not everybody here knows about. You will learn about people that many don’t know even exist, or will ever know to exist. Do you understand?”  
Once again…Yelena was right.  
Natasha stared deep and wide-eyed into Vanya’s eyes like a starving child.  
She wanted to know more.  
She wanted to know everything.  
And she wanted to know now.


	2. Chapter II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha gets a new title, and a new trainer.

Natalia Alianova Romanova was now ‘The Black Widow’.   
When the news had been broken to her, she almost couldn’t believe it. She knew that she was high up in the ranks, but to gain the title meant a whole lot more than she could have ever hoped.   
Some congratulated her, and others were jealous.   
The feeling wasn’t quite unfamiliar to her. But she did notice that the tensions were further amplified. On top of that, there was Yelena.   
It was always an unspoken truth that there was a rivalry over the title of who was best. But since they were so close, they used it to an advantage in some sense. They pushed each other, and intended to beat each-others scores at the same time. By default, this heightened the standards for everyone else.   
After, when they were around each other, Natasha could tell that Yelena felt a desperate amount of jealousy. She really did try to act happy for her, but she wasn’t convincing enough for Natasha. She just hoped that her next assignment abroad would happen before any type of blowout had the chance to talk place. Some time away from each other would do Yelena good.   
“Natalia,” said a voice through her bedroom intercom.   
Nikolai.  
“Yes, Nik?” she answered.   
“He’s ready. Be at the south training room in ten minutes.”   
She learned the previous day who ‘he’ was. They called him, ‘The Winter Soldier’. Nothing else. No name.   
She found it strange, but she decided not to question it. Even if she did, she wasn’t going to get answers.   
When she made her way in, she saw him standing in the middle of the training mat.   
He was tall, and had a wide, muscular figure. His eyes were cold, and disconnected, and there was no missing the silver metal arm on his left side marked with the red star on his shoulder.   
She walked up to him boldly and stuck her hand out to shake his. The metal one. She wanted to feel it. But all he did was stare down at it, and turned his gaze back to her. No response.   
Okay, he wanted to play it that way.   
He was there to train her further. She was already good at fighting multiple men at once, but he seemed to be a whole other challenge. She liked challenges. And she was prepared for this one.   
…  
She was not prepared.   
For a lack of better words, she had her ass handed to her. Every minute spent with him, every kick, every swing made her blood boil.   
How dare he?   
Regardless, he still was able to say that she wasn’t terrible; but they had work to do. She wondered if he was lying when he said that she wasn’t terrible. Which was what she felt. But he didn’t seem to be the type to lie, or be sarcastic. He was too stoic for that.   
“I’ll see you again tomorrow, okay?” he said.   
She huffed, grabbing her bottle and gulped the rest of her water down.   
“You fight well, Natalia.”   
“Call me Natasha,” she replied.   
He paused.   
“Okay, Natasha.”   
The way he said her name jarred her a little bit. His Russian was perfect. She was sure that he was Russian, but when he specifically said her name, he sounded completely American. Sure, agents were trained to speak multiple languages perfectly, but mixing languages in the manner that he did was…strange.   
“Until tomorrow,” she said as she walked out the door.   
…  
The next few days got better.   
She learned his fighting patterns. She learned how to avoid his movements so as not to deal with the blows that she knew he was already holding back on. He could easily kill her with one punch to the face. But she trusted him enough to know that he wouldn’t.   
She trusted him.   
That wasn’t something that she said often. If at all.   
But that was how she felt.   
Finally, after a week after training, they were given their first assignment together.   
They were assigned to go to Prague. The target was a couple of senators.   
Mission?   
Infiltrate, steal intel, kill.   
Natasha’s job was the infiltration. She’d charm the hell out of one of the senators. The one with the highest security surrounding him. He was unmarried, so having a woman attached to his arm was in no way, shape, or form uncommon. So all she had to do was make sure that she was that girl. Which, in her experience wasn’t hard.   
Next, she had to make sure that he was inebriated enough to take her to his hotel room. Once he did that, she would make him a new drink. One that would ensure that minutes after finishing it he would be dead thanks to a neat little pill that she would crush up and spike his drink with. Once he passed out, she would grab all of the secret paper-work that he was holding in his rooms and go. Once paramedics would find him after she ‘frantically called’ they would just rule it out as a drug overdose. No suspicious whatsoever. Assassination #1 would be complete.   
#2 would be completed by the soldier by whatever means needed.   
There would be less security with that one. But from what she understood, it would be trickier, but perfect for his expertise.   
They sat in the jet that would be taking them to their destination.   
Natasha couldn’t deny that she wasn’t curious about him. Where was he from? How long had he been working in Russia? Was he even Russian? And the arm…No…She didn’t feel it best to talk about that.   
She stood up from her seat, and sat on the chair next to him.   
He turned to her, and an eyebrow raised in intrigue as to what she was doing.   
It was honestly the most emotion she had ever seen him express since the day she met him.  
“So how long have you been doing this?” she asked outright.   
He frowned.   
It was a peculiar frown though. It was partially a, ‘Why are you asking me this question?’ look, but with hints of trying to remember how long it had been. And it seemed that if he were asking himself that question…he had no idea?   
She figured that maybe she had miscalculated her perceptions of him? But she didn’t feel like she had. She was usually great at those types of things.   
He didn’t answer her question, and just turned back to look straight forward once again.   
Message noted.   
“You have all of your plans in order, right?” he asked in English.   
Once again, perfect. What was his native language?  
She had to hold back on rolling her eyes though from what he had just asked her. Of course she was ready. Who did he think she was?   
Okay, he didn’t really know what she was quite capable of. But it didn’t stop her from feeling slightly offended.   
“Do you?” she replied flirtatiously.   
He looked down at her with an expression that she had (once again), a hard time reading. That or maybe she didn’t want to admit that she thought that maybe he kind of…Liked her tone?   
She disregarded it and decided to leave him alone. But she wasn’t going to move from her seat.   
When they landed, she realized that she had fallen asleep. Even more noteworthy, she fell asleep on his shoulder. And he didn’t seem to mind.   
She liked that.   
Maybe he did too.


	3. Chapter III

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha goes off to Prague for her first assignment with the soldier.  
> But...she realizes that she has feelings that she might have to come to terms with.

The day had come.   
Natasha was in Prague in a very nice hotel room preparing for what was to take place that night.   
Target #1 was a congressman who had had mild affiliation with heads of the Red Room in the past. But he had recently started to indicate signs of turning on them.   
Target #2 was a Russian official that had close affiliation with him. Red Room had big leads and reason to deduce that target number #1 started talking potential intel with him.   
Big mistake.   
For this assignment, Natasha had to pretend that she was an elite, high-end Russian escort…(Of course she did).   
Ever since she had turned 18 six months ago, they had used her and other young girls to pose as such. At the very least, they didn’t necessarily or always have to pretend to be ladies of the night. Depending on the setting, they would just pose as drunk party animals who were willing to be taken home after one conversation with an important, rich man.   
Luckily, they never went as far as to sleep with them. In fact, there would be serious consequences if they did so.   
The event that Natasha would be attending would be an elite black-tie event that only some of the most powerful European social, or political figures would be allowed to attend. Since the event wasn’t based on talking about politics, there was a loophole on how to get in. There were some extra plus ones who were allowed to attend other than a spouse or romantic partner.   
Another fact about this loophole, nobody asked questions if there were singular individuals who weren’t attached to someone from the beginning posing as an “extra cousin” to whoever they decided to point a finger at. It was a very well known, but unspoken truth that the majority of these “unknown plus-one’s” were men and women (as previously mentioned), “of the night”.   
This was why Natasha’s cover was perfect.   
Her target was single, and to an extent famous for being one of those men to take one of these women home.   
Her assignment didn’t quite start at the gala. She had to make sure that she had his attention before she got there.   
While walking down the street where she knew he would be that afternoon, she bumped into him.   
She knew that he could react in two different ways.   
One, he could passively curse her and be on his way.   
Two, she would make sure that he caught her innocent looking eyes, and proceed to look at her apologetically as she continued on her way.   
She accomplished on getting the latter.   
The purpose of that interaction was to make sure that he did in fact catch her eye, but not enough to study her face. So when he’d see her at the gala looking for his next expensive conquest, she would be the one he was more drawn to on the basis of subconscious familiarity.   
As she zipped up her new silk black dress, she couldn’t help but admire herself.   
It was long, so it covered her six-inch, gold strappy heels. But there was a long slit to the side that reached slightly above her knee. There was also a long v-line that reached the middle of her chest, but didn’t end up showing any cleavage. She looked both sexy, and classy at the same time.   
Going out to events, or parties were something she never really got to experience in her real life. It made her wonder what it would be like to go out with people she knew and liked in a normal setting. Something outside of sneaking into somebody’s room and drinking booze that somebody else had smuggled in with 3 or 4 other people in the Red Room quarters in the middle of the night.  
She wanted a man to look at her in dresses like the one she was in and fall in love with her. For a man to see her as more than some conquest that he either was planning to pay for, or to just be another one-night-stand.   
She wanted to be around a man that she actually liked. And she especially wanted to be around a man that she actually wanted to see her in that kind of way without having to kill him within a few minutes.   
As she attempted to fasten her diamond bracelet, she heard a soft knock on her window. She snapped her head to the side and found the soldier standing by the sliding glass door of the her balcony.   
She made her way over and opened the door, letting him in.   
“Hi,” she greeted confusedly.   
He didn’t say anything as he entered, was gave her a once over. In fact, she couldn’t help but feel suspicious that he was…admiring her?   
Without saying anything further, she outstretched her arm toward him and set the bracelet onto her wrist holding one side and silently signaled for him to help her fasten it.   
It took him a second for him to stop looking at her in the dress and realize what she was trying to get him to do. When he did, he ever so softly took the other side and snapped it closed.   
“Hi,” he finally replied.   
She smiled, and held back a chuckle.   
“I wasn’t expecting you to come by,” she said.   
“Just wanted to make sure plans were in sync,” he replied.   
Figures.  
“I make sure my target is alone with me before the gala is over, and when your target leaves at the end of the night, you finish your end, correct?”   
He nodded.   
“You look nice,” he said.   
She blushed, and immediately turned her face and cleared her throat to try to mask it.   
“Thank you,” she replied.  
She turned back to face him, and found herself gazing into his eyes.   
She hated when this happened.   
Ever since their first session with training together, she found herself getting lost in those bright, blue-grey eyes of his. They were beautiful, and honestly so was the rest of him.   
It had to be impossible for a young girl like her not to be absolutely enamored with his looks. He was tall, incredibly muscular, and as mentioned before, his eyes alone could captivate any person alive.  
No matter how much she tried to fight it…She couldn’t deny the physical palpitations within her chest.   
When she thought about wanting a man to see her in the kind of light in the context that she wanted…She couldn’t help but think about him. And she honestly wasn’t sure how to handle the idea of it actually coming to fruition.   
Maybe she was just hopeful. Maybe she had made every lingering glare towards her up in her mind. That she was just projecting how she was trying to suppress looking at him, onto him actually looking at her.   
And why was it him of all people that did this to her?   
“So I guess I’ll see you after,” she confirmed.   
“Once the job is done?”   
He nodded silently once again. Again, noticing that his eyes weren’t stoic like before they had landed in Prague…But as though he were maybe admiring her.   
They took a moment, and continued to stare at each-other as though the other were unsure on what to say next. Maybe there was truth to her suspicion. She at least knew that she didn’t know what to do.   
She decided to turn back to the full sized mirror and make sure that she did still look perfect.   
And she did.   
She also hoped that he would notice that.   
…  
Three hours had passed, and both jobs were done.   
By the time the assassination of target #1 had happened on the streets of Prague after the event, Natasha had already taken target #2 to his hotel room.   
She wasn’t quite sure which target was dead first. All she knew was that neither of them knew that the other was dead by the time they themselves had met their demise.   
When at the gala, she had caught eyes with her target the exact way that she had expected him to. Coincidentally, he was deep in conversation with target #1.   
A few moments after he caught eyes with her, he joined her by the bar and offered to buy her a drink.   
She accepted, and carried conversation. When he asked her who she was with, she quietly confided that she wasn’t actually there with anyone. That was the subliminal signal that he in-fact was looking for.   
The only thing that was important was that he wanted her, and that money was no object towards what he wanted.   
She made sure that he took her to his hotel room before the gala was over, and the soldiers target was still alive. If he had been executed before her target, security would definitely be circling around them immediately. And after figuring that he might be safe…the press might have been circulating around to figuratively execute a rising political figure looking for an expensive lay.   
She played things off in a way that made him think that he was not allowed to touch her until they were alone, and secure within closed doors. That until they were ready to seal the real deal, no hand nor lips would be used toward each-other in any way, shape, or form. This especially helped her make sure that things were discreet, and nobody would notice her actually interacting with him.   
When they actually did make it to the room as according to plan, she pretended to want to make extra drinks for them just for the fun of it. It was obvious that a man like him was never going to decline that sort of offer. Especially when the expensive hotel room included a full bar.   
When she reached down to grab a half-full bottle of gin (of course he had drank half of it within the two days that he was staying there), she poured the lethal powder in the cup before adding the gin along with it without him noticing.  
By the time she had finished pouring, the powder was completely invisible. And because of that, when he drank half of the glass within one gulp, he didn’t suspect a thing.   
Within seconds of him finishing his drink after the second gulp, his airways began to constrict, and he was dead after thirty seconds as she stood in-front, and practically atop him as his body succumbed to the inevitable.   
There would hardly be an investigation on his death.   
The solution that she was ordered to give him would mimic something like a drug overdose. One that could be explained as a result of intense grief for his fallen best-friend.  
Based on the fact that there was half a bottle of gin that was finished in that room that had obviously been fully stocked before him checking in the previous night, and the actual stash of cocaine hidden in his briefcase, it was as easy case to cover up.   
She pressed some powder against, and up his nose, and made two perfect lines on the nightstand next to what would look like an absurd amount of tracts of already snorted lines.   
When she exited the room nobody was around, and she knew that the cameras wouldn’t catch her because those had already been taken care of by her superiors.   
Mission was accomplished without a trace.   
And by the time she made it to her room, undressed, slipped into her sleepwear, and turned on the tv news, she knew that his job was done too.   
Natasha could not sleep right away. She knew that she wouldn’t.   
Although she was doing what she was highly trained and skilled to do, it didn’t stop the occasional flashback, or spark of guilt to hit her right after.   
Her superiors were still working hard to beat that trait out of her. Although she never protested any one of her assignments, they could always tell that there was always at least just a little feeling of hesitation within her. No matter how hard she tried to mask it.   
She flipped through channels and watched a few minutes of shows that she was never able to watch unless she was in the kind of setting that she was in then. Some of them were pretty funny, and entertaining too.   
Suddenly, she heard a knock on the glass window once again. This time, she recognized who’s knock it was.   
She quickly walked over and opened the door for him before anybody could notice that he was there. Granted, he was masterful at going unnoticed.   
How was it possible for nobody to notice a guy with a shiny metal arm ending up on her balcony?   
But this time, he wasn’t in uniform. He was dressed like a normal person. He wore jeans, a black t-shirt, a leather jacket on top of a hoodie, and one glove concealing his left hand.   
He pulled his hood off when he walked in, after the window was closed along with the curtain.   
This time, she was the one that was attempting to conceal the once-over. He looked…He looked so different than how he usually did when he wasn’t in uniform.   
This did not help the palpitations.   
When she stopped noting what he was wearing, she began to realize that she wasn’t exactly dressed in a way that he was used to seeing her either.   
She had a pair of black, silk shorts on and a tight, grey, ribbed tank-top that did nothing to conceal what was under her shirt. She began to feel herself blush, so he crossed her arms in a sad attempt to cover her chest. Not that she was really thinking that he noticed.   
“I suppose they want a mission report?” she asked.   
He nodded.   
“Target is down, and there should be no ounce of suspicion. They’ll probably just figure that it was tied to…well…your end of the assignment.”  
“Good.”   
“And you?” she asked.   
“I see you completed swiftly.”   
He nodded.  
“I walked by the scene where the crowd congregated to confirm that it was done, minutes after I hit him.”  
That probably explained the outfit.   
“Right through his skull in one shot,” she stated, repeating what she had heard on the news no ten minutes before.  
“You never do miss, do you?”   
That question was rhetorical, and he treated it as such.   
“So we have everything covered,” he said.   
She nodded.   
“Are you going to climb off of my balcony again? Because you know that you can just walk out of the front door like a normal person right now.”   
His lips curled into a light smile. That damned smile that caused that damned feeling again.   
“Here,” Natasha said.  
“I’ll walk you out.”   
He followed as she made her way over to the door.   
By the time she reached to open the doorknob, he had beat her to it before she could even register; causing her hand to land right on top of his. She couldn’t help but let her hand linger, despite the normal instinct that would be to pull back. But at that moment, didn’t want to not feel the warmth of his hand beneath hers no matter how much the contact made her feel like snakes were circulating around her stomach and chest.   
She looked up at him and noticed his expression. His right brow was knit in mild confusion, but he didn’t seem disturbed or even at the very least…uncomfortable.   
What Natasha was about to do next was risky. She knew that. In fact, it was probably stupid. No, it was stupid. There was no reason why she should think that that was an acceptable thing to do, but she felt like he had to do it.   
She took her hand off of his, and waited to see if he would rush out.   
But he didn’t. He looked at her as intensely as she probably was probably looking at him. Almost as though their energies had matched. (Except for that fact that he might not have felt like air was being constricted from his lungs.)  
So…she followed through.   
She lightly brushed the side of his cheek, and kissed him softly.   
And he didn’t pull away.


	4. Chapter IV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings grow more intense for Natasha and the soldier.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \------------------------------------------Sexual content-------------------------------------------

The next few moments were felt like a blur to her.

When he kissed her, it felt like he meant it, wanted it, wanted _her_.

She honestly didn’t know what to expect when she actually did kiss him. And despite the fact that she had to admit to herself that she had thought about it, (many more times than she would have liked to admit), she didn’t expect to actually go through with it. But in a way, it felt like a reflex. A natural reflex.

And she wasn’t sorry. 

After having had many private session training with him, it was only natural that they got to know how the other moved, or how the other's body felt against each other. And despite the fact that the context behind him holding her was him holding her from the behind into a headlock when the gap between them closed as much as it possibly could, it didn’t feel foreign.

She held on to him as she walked back towards the bed. When she reached it she broke away from him to make her way to the middle of the bed. He followed, and carefully and cautiously hovered over her.

It made her want to chuckle. _That_ was the moment that he wanted to be careful with her? 

Not long after kissing her again, his lips broke from hers and he began to trail down to her neck leaving bites that would most likely leave a mark. He ran his hands up and down her sides, eventually making their way up to her breasts at the same time that he found a particularly sensitive spot on her neck. A soft moan escaped her lips, and it made her feel…embarrassed.

Not necessarily that she had made a sound, but the fact that she had let it out so soon. They didn’t even have their clothes off, and she was already a mess under his touch. 

She then decided to fix that problem, and pulled his shirt up, signaling for him to take it off. When he did so, she mimicked the motion and pulled her tank-top off revealing more of herself…Not that much of her was covered by the thin fabric, to begin with.

He ventured lower and kissed down her body, causing the fire in her core grow hotter and hotter until it felt like she couldn’t take it anymore, and he knew it.

When his hands settled along the elastic of her shorts after running his lips down her torso causing the fire in her core to grow hotter and hotter, he began to hesitate. He froze, and his eyes grew wider fixed on her torso. He seemed…nervous and unsure…

She sat up, and pulled his face to hers and softly stroked the side of his face and through his hair. It was the first moment since that initial kiss where things had actually slowed down, and what was about to happen really sunk in. So for a while, they just took a moment to really savor each other. To savor the closeness, and tranquility that the one’s presence brought the other.

No man had ever touched her the way that he did. And she wondered how long it had been since someone had touched him the way that she did.

With her thumb stroking along his cheekbone, and her forehead pressed to his she whispered ever so softly.

“It’s okay…I want this.”

He took a deep breath and kissed her deeply.

Her heart fluttered, and in turn, it felt as though every synapse of every nerve in her body was fluttering. She moved her hand down to feel him, noting that he was just as ready for her as she was for him.

While looking deep into his bright blue eyes, she unbuttoned his pants and pulled them down. He followed suit pulling her shorts down, and she proceeded to kick them off. She was not wearing underwear. 

He placed his hand to her burning core, rubbing circles on that one little nub that screamed for attention. She let out a sharp gasp and moan when he did. Once again, she began to blush. She blushed even harder when one of his fingers entered her, and he could see and feel just how wet she was. She tried to enunciate, hell, to even let out one word to tell what she really wanted. She wanted more than his fingers right then. But he took his time and added another one while kissing her.

She soon pulled her lips away from his and stared into his lustful eyes at least attempting to communicate what she wanted. He got the message, especially when she took his pulsing length in her hand. 

When lined himself up and finally entered her, she let out a gasp. She was not quite expecting the sharp sensation of him stretching her walls. She honestly didn’t know what else she should have expected though, he wasn’t exactly by any means small.

He took a moment and waited for her to get used to him, and helped her relax by kissing her neck and running his hands up and down her torso again. Something that he had already learned turned her body to Jell-o. When she was ready she began to move her hips, and he moved softly and cautiously along with her. 

As time went on, they grew more and more comfortable with each other. They were truly entangled together. Natasha felt almost overwhelmed by the various sensations. The push, the pull, the give and take, the sound of his heavy breaths mixed with hers, his cooler hand on one side of her, and incredibly hot on one the other, and especially the sensation his large frame on top and almost encompassing her comparatively tiny frame. She was un-regrettably in total submission to him.

But she felt safe. She felt safe _and_ secure in his arms no matter how vulnerable she was. They were both in one of the most vulnerable state that two people could be in, and she felt safe. 

She never wanted it to end. She never wanted to not feel him against her. She never wanted to not hear his soft gasps and moans against her lips, or his muscles contract and relax against her touch, or just the feeling being completely in sync with someone else. Specifically him. It felt like so more than just sex. Or at least the technical idea of just rubbing two body parts together. They were…connected.

Eventually, she flipped over so that she could be on top of him, and it didn’t take long until that fire and throbbing grew stronger and stronger, and began to feel a big knot or bubble form at the base of her abdomen. He sat himself up and attached his mouth on her neck, biting and sucking at it; and his hands started toying with her breasts which intensified the feeling second by second. She began to sigh desperately, and her movements grew more erratic. He took note and brought his right hand down to rub at that little spot once again. Within seconds, an explosion took over her entire body causing her to move even faster. She heavily, and loudly cried out with her face pressed to the top of his head. In the middle of her orgasm, she could feel him throbbing heavily and them spilling inside of her. 

Even after they finished, they didn’t move. At least not for a few moments.

As they took time to catch their breath, her face was still pressed to the top of his head, and her arms were still wrapped tightly around him. They just stayed incredibly still for what she wanted to be forever. 

After a few minutes passed, she climbed off him and pulled him down so that he could lay next to her, even if it could only be for a little while. As much as she wanted to entertain the idea, she knew that there was no way that he would be able to stay with her the whole night. No way that she could have him hold her sleeping form for hours on end, or to wake up to his face being the first thing she saw in the morning.

So she took whatever time left she had with him and savored it, just as she did every other moment that she had spent with him. Because she knew that even if they had a countless amount of encounters like that with him or even with anyone else, she would never forget that night.

She would never forget that night because that was _her_ first time. 


	5. Chaper V

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natasha is content with her current arrangement with her recent developments with the soldier regardless of the strains that it might put on part of her original routine and relationships.

From the moment that Natasha walked back into the confines of the Red Room, people noticed that something was different with her.

Specifically Yelena.

“Natasha…Natalia!”

That name was what made her snap out of her daze.

“What?” Natasha sighed while continuing to stir her food around with a fork.

“What is wrong with you, sestra? Did something happened to you in Prague?”

“No!” Natasha snapped. Perhaps a little too suspiciously.

“I’ve just been tired with the extra sessions in the morning.”

And at night.

That familiar flash of jealousy came over her face. The one that Natasha knew that she would try to hide, but there was no hiding from Natasha. Especially since she knew Yelena so well.

“How is it going? Training with the soldier, I mean,” she asked quietly, but stoic faced.

“It’s going good,” she answered with full intention to not share any more.

Between the secrets, lies, and resentment, there was an obvious but unspoken strain in the girls’ relationship that continued to grow day by day.

Natasha was good at hiding her secret. But Yelena and only Yelena could tell that there was a wall that was added due to that secret. There was also the added resentment that _Natasha_ was the one that was chosen to work so closely with him, and not her.

And because altogether she grew stronger, faster, and stealthier, her skills began to noticeably excel even quicker than before. Which meant that Natasha reeled in even more attention from their higher-ups and that much away from the others. Specifically, attention that could have also been going to Yelena.

But Natasha didn’t care.

She didn’t care because she never signed up for any of this. She didn’t sign any paperwork and show up with wide eyes, hopes, and dreams looking for glory like young Americans signing up for the Military. She was an orphan who was forced into it. Forcing herself to excel in the way that she did was her means of survival on multiple levels.

When she was out on the field, it was to kill or be killed. When she was on base at the Red Room, it was excel, or face punishment. She suspected that it was either the fact that they sensed a high potential in her early on, or if it was because of her sometimes defiant attitude, (maybe both), but from the get-go, they punished her more than many of the other girls in the Black Widow program. So in turn, she would never be sorry for being the best, or even being cocky about it at times. She earned it.

“Romanova!” barked one of her superiors.

“Did you forget about your 3:00 training?”

She stared down at her watch. Had she really been sitting there in a daze for an hour and a half already?

“Shit!” she exclaimed, scrambling to get up and go not even caring that she barely took two bites out of her food.

“I’ll see you at Ballet tonight?” Yelena called out as Natasha almost ran away.

“Mmhmm,” she answered passively, knowing that there was a high chance that she would be able to get out of it for _“extra training”._

They were able to get away with having alone time. They acted like it was necessary to have to train in enclosed spaces to learn how to get around things in the dark to learn stealth or some other bullshit that she already knew how to do. But she loved it. She loved every bit of it.

She loved the danger in what they were doing. She loved exploring him, and she loved the way that he explored her so much further than they had that first night in Prague.

And most of all, as difficult as it was to admit for whatever reason, she loved feeling close to him. Close to… _someone_.

Honestly, it wasn’t even that difficult to keep things a secret. Nobody suspected any type of emotional relationship to brew between the two of them; much less a physical one. Not even Natasha nor he expected it. But after that first night, it was almost unfathomable to even think about the situation being otherwise. 

After that first night, it was unclear to both of them if it was just a terrible mistake and something that they would never do again.

Natasha remembered not seeing him for two days after that night, and not being able to stop thinking, or worrying about it. Worrying that maybe she didn’t see him because he resented her; or worse, told on her. When she laid in bed at night, she couldn’t help but replay the memories in her head over and over again and feeling those similar sensations that she had that night. All while being unsure if he felt the same way.

At least not until the day that they resumed their private training again. Things were silent for the most part aside from the regular fighting; until he had her in a headlock once again. But instead of getting out of it as quickly as she usually did, she hesitated to pull away. In fact, she went nearly limp against his body. She was limp against the same torso that she was so close to just over 48 hours ago. And he didn’t protest. He didn’t pull away. He didn’t even give orders, or snap at her to keep fighting as he normally would have done. He knew what she was doing, and she knew that he didn’t protest for the same reason that she stayed still. So he held her there and lingered for what felt like forever, and yet milliseconds at the same time.

After that training session was over, they found a spot to meet where they knew that they wouldn’t get caught and went back to where they left off in that hotel room.

Every single movement was erratic, frantic, and beautifully swift.

No reservations.

No inhibitions.

And no fear.

Every time those secret encounters took place, even when they were clothed again, he would hold her for however long as they could be alone without detection.

He’d sway her side to side, and softly hummed songs that she didn’t know. He even gave her a little nickname.

Little fox.

She loved that. She loved being his little fox. And he loved being her soldier. And at least for then, for a little while…it was enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of me keeps thinking that this doesn't seem like some of the stuff that WS would do, but I'm currently reading an Black Widow audiobook and it's pretty spot on so I'm not sorry. Hope you enjoyed <3


	6. Chapter VI

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some new revelations are made about who 'The Winter Soldier' is.
> 
> \-----------------------------------------Sexual Content---------------------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been too long since I posted, I'm sorry. I've been super busy with school and dealing with incredibly shitty mental health.

Natasha knew that if she were to get caught, she would be punished severely. She knew that she risked being put in a tiny room with barely anything to eat for weeks. She risked having any morsel of freedom and independence that she earned for her stellar work. Worst of all, she risked not seeing her soldier again. And even though she knew that there was hardly a chance that he would be there with her forever, she still dreaded the thought of her time with him being cut short.

It was the middle of the night, and those who circulated the halls were slacking off in the exact corner that they did every single night. They really thought that they would go unnoticed, or that nobody would try to slip past them. The truth was, was that Natasha was able to slip past them since she was 16.

She had snuck into the big boss’s office a countless amount of times. She liked going through files to see what her classified evaluation notes were…or even some of the other widow’s notes were in good fun. It was part of how she knew what they wanted her to work on when they wouldn’t tell her. Sometimes she snuck in to see the full file on what was behind the assignments that she had or was going to fulfill because frankly, she knew that they never told her the whole truth.

But tonight was different.

She wasn’t looking for files on herself, missions, or targets. She wanted to know who the hell _he_ was. Why he seemed to be so clueless as to who he was, and why she nor anybody she knew were privy to that information.

She searched and searched through files while admittedly taking the odd pause to read some files of her comrades, her best friend, and her own. Not many files that she looked through were all that interesting. Most of them stating that progress was either minimal or slowly progressing. Reports on which of the widows were ready to train against boys or men, and which ones weren’t; and which ones were ready to go out into the field to gather intel…and even kill. Standard stuff.

And then there was Yelena’s file. Specifically one line.

_There seems to be recent tension between the subject with known close friend Natalia Romanova._

Natasha frowned. How did they even notice? Did she say something? Why was that information even important?

But that made her realize something. It was important to them because they knew that they would use it as a tool to pit the girls against each other. Classic Red Room move. Anything to make their widows more lethal and ruthless as quickly as possible.

She knew that she’d have to talk to her about that. Even if there was still tension, they had to make sure it was all hidden. There was no way she was letting her superiors get to her like that. She may cherish her friendship, but she also wanted to keep as much autonomy of her life as she could. If she was going to be the best, she needed them to know that she would earn it herself. Not by them creating some type of sibling rivalry. Even if it was just an illusion that they were being proven wrong.

She decided to skip her file and continued to search, and search until…She noticed a notch in the desk. Something she actually never noticed. She assumed it was because she already knew what she was usually looking for, and her file wasn’t anywhere near that part of the office.

It was a notch that seemed to indicate a hidden compartment. One that wasn’t quite closed properly.

She looked around cautiously, just to make sure that nobody was coming before proceeding to carefully open the compartment. And there it was. His file.

There were pages upon pages of past assassinations that he had accomplished. Ones that she never would have even guessed happened through Hydra. Especially the ones that started entire wars in the past. The past being a keyword.

“What the hell?” she whispered to herself.

There were dates that preceded the 90’s, 80’s, 70’s, 60’s all the way down to the beginning of his assassination records…The late 40’s.

Natasha shook her head and tried to rationalize that she had to be mistaken with what she was seeing. There was so way…This had to be some type of code. It had to be that this ‘Winter Soldier’ was just a mantle that was passed on, and he was the new generation, it had to be—

But the further she looked, there were no other photos. It was all the same man in the photos through the decades without any signs of aging. And there was only one name shown at the end of the file.

James Buchanan Barnes.

Born 1917.

Also known as _‘The Winter Soldier’_.

…

On the jet ride taking her to an op in Bucharest, Natasha didn’t know what to do, say, or think. Of course, there really wasn’t much that she could do at the moment. It wasn’t like she could sit down and have a conversation with him about her newfound discoveries. That fact drove her crazy, especially since she didn’t have time to fully read his file in detail.

How did he live for so long? And how did he manage to still look like a man barely in his 30’s? What made him turn from World War II veteran alongside Steve Rogers, Captain America to fighting alongside Hydra? Did he even know who he was? Because when she came to think about it, anytime she tried to get anything out of him, his entire demeanor seemed to go blank. It was less like he was keeping the secret, and more like the secret was being kept from him.

Despite all of the questions, part of her knew that she shouldn’t have been surprised. This was The Red Room, and Hydra. Both of whom were famous for many forms of human experimentation, and/or physical modifications. She could personally attest to that. But she had never heard of them going as far as alienating an agent from even their own identities.

If she were awarded the freedom to even ask him the questions that she wanted to ask, would he even have answers? Did _she_ have more answers about his life than he did after having only skimmed through a single file?

“Natasha…Natasha!” her CO barked.

“Say that again?” she answered.

She wasn’t even sure if she drowned out every word that escapes that woman’s lips, or if she even said anything and knew that she just needed to get Natasha’s attention first.

“I asked if you both understand your mission.”

Her voice sounded annoyed, and Natasha could tell that she was holding back from rolling her eyes. Not that she ever held back on it before.

She looked over to him…(James?) Who was sitting across from her in the jet. He nodded, and in response, Natasha tilted her head to the side and innocently batted her eyelashes at her CO to silently communicate that yes she understood and that she could leave them fuck alone.

Not that they were actually talking to each other.

They decided that talking between the two of them among superiors might not be the best idea. They understood that conversation between the two of them might seem suspiciously too familiar and comfortable with each other. He had no problem being stoic. But against all of her ingrained training, she knew that she risked looking nervous, or losing the ability to hold in a smile; maybe even blushing no matter how much she tried.

Even sitting across from him was a challenge on its own. She thought about those stolen moments that they shared together in her bedroom before he had to leave. She thought about how he held her close, and within minutes had her shuddering over, and over again. She thought about what his mouth felt like against hers, or the sounds that escaped the back of their throats despite trying to be as quiet as possible. She loved it.

She loved him.

Her eyes widened, and her heart sank whenever that thought crossed her mind. It made her sad because that was all that it could probably ever be. A pretty little thought that would do no more than bounce around her pretty little brain. She couldn’t tell him. She couldn’t tell anyone. And if she were to be completely honest, she was angry that she even told herself.

…

Once they had reached Bucharest, they were alone. They were dropped off and would be there until their op was finished. An op that would last for at least two nights.

One thing that surprised Natasha was finding out that they were being placed in the same hotel room. Well…It had two rooms. But Natasha had a strong hunch that only one of those rooms would be put to use. And just as usual, she was right. 

Seconds after she stepped out of the shower of their exceptionally nice hotel room, he grabbed her, pulled her close to him, and carried her to bed. She gasped and giggled a little bit before crashing her lips to his and kissing him deeply.

It had barely been 24 hours since she had snuck out of his room at the Red Room base, but her body was screaming for him. Her senses heightened more and more by the second as he brushed his lips from her mouth, down to her neck and continued to move further and further down her body. That desperate pulsing in between her legs grew stronger by the second, and when he reached her belly button and bit right below it she was gasping for him to touch her where she wanted him most.

Seconds later his mouth was attached to her core and she couldn’t breathe. He looked up at her with his bright blue eyes. Those damned eyes that seemed so inhumanely dead at times, and other times specifically when he was with her and her only they were more alive and beautiful than any eyes she had ever seen in her life. Those damned eyes that she knew could easily be the death of her.

When he was finally inside of her he began with a relentless pace that didn’t falter. They were both once again caught in a whirlwind of sensation that grew more intense during any one of their encounters.

It wasn’t long until she felt that familiar pressure building up, and he was pulsing inside of her signaling near release. Her hips began to move erratically, and her gasps and sighs against his lips grew louder and more desperate. And just as she felt him spilling inside of her as she shuddered around him, something escaped her lips as she cried out with her face buried in the crook of his neck.

His name.

James.


	7. Orphaning?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I need your opinion on this in the comments. Should I continue this work?

Considering maybe not continuing this work unless requested. Let me know if you want this to continue. I really want your input. <3


End file.
